Cereal #5: Honey Smacks

I've said before that we didn't eat a lot of sugary cereal growing up. My sister and I knew better than to beg for it, too. Well. Every now and then, I would find Sugar Smacks in the cupboard. And now after moving out of the house, I've noticed it once in a great while in the cupboard when I visit. Hm. Conclusion? Its my mom's favorite cereal. The part I find troubling is that mom doesn't like milk. That means she eats it dry. But Smacks without milk?? Is like... like a bath without water, or chocolate without peanut butter.

I tried eating a huge bowl of it for breakfast this morning. Tay-sty! But I overestimated the milk. And since the bowl was already oversized, I just couldn't eat anymore. I saved the sugary milk and its waiting in the fridge for another bowl... or perhaps a cup of tea or coffee. Why waste perfectly sweetened milk? I could eat one small bowl of shredded wheat to fill me up until lunch. But Honey Smacks? Nope. I need to eat 2 bowls at a time and still need a snack before lunch. What does that say about the necessary nutrients for a balanced breakfast? Hmpf. Oh well, satis-Smack-tion!!

Wikepedia says....

In a 2008 comparison of the nutritional value of 27 cereals, U.S. magazine Consumer Reports found that both Honey Smacks and Post Cereals' Golden Crisp were the two brands with the highest sugar content - more than 50 percent (by weight) -, commenting "There is at least as much sugar in a serving of Kellogg's Honey Smacks [...] as there is in a glazed doughnut from Dunkin’ Donuts". (The cereals are both sweetened puffed wheat.) Consumer Reports recommended parents to choose cereal brands with better nutrition ratings for their children.^[

Introduced in 1953, the cereal has undergone several name changes. It started out as Sugar Smacks. In the 1980s, it was renamed Honey Smacks. In the early 1990s, perhaps because the product mascot, Dig'em Frog, had customarily been portrayed as calling the cereal "Smacks", the word "Honey" was dropped from the name and the product was then simply called Smacks. In 2004, the cereal was given back the name Honey Smacks, which is now its current name. It is known in Mexico as SMAK.

Several slogans have been used in the advertising of Honey Smacks, including "They're Honey Smackin' good!" from 1984 to 1987, "I Dig'em" from 1991 to 1994, and "Satis-Smack-tion!" from 1995 to 1997.